Rachel Briggs, Ph.D.’s Post

What does instructional design actually look like? This week in my graduate instructional design courses, students are developing projects that integrate usability, accessibility, and learning theory into a cohesive design. One thing I emphasize is that strong instructional design is not simply about making something look polished. It is about structure, clarity, cognitive load, and intentional alignment between objectives and interaction. Many of my students begin the semester uncertain about their technical abilities. By midterm, they are building structured, accessible digital learning environments with confidence. Applied design matters. Theory matters. The integration of both is where meaningful learning experiences are created.

Day 1 of 4 of the Instructional Design Transition Workshop hosted by Jill Davidian was a whirlwind in the best way. We explored what corporate instructional design truly looks like in practice, and we spent time unpacking how to apply to ID roles with intention and strategy. It pushed me to reflect on my experience as a career coach, where I redesigned an entire cohort with accessibility at the forefront so learners could truly engage and succeed. That experience reshaped how I think about learning design. In a world where online learning continues to expand, I believe deeply in thoughtful, accessible design. We can learn anywhere, but only if the content is built with intention and care. I am also in the final weeks of completing my Instructional Design Certificate at UNC Charlotte School of Professional Studies, and I'm in the process of building a fashion-based course that will live in my professional portfolio: Core & Curated: Designing Personal Style with Elevated Basics Here is a sneak peek at the modules: Module 1: The Foundation: Understanding Elevated Basics Module 2: Function & Longevity: Dressing for Real Life Module 3: Wardrobe Audit & Evaluation Module 4: Core & Curated: Designing Your Elevated Wardrobe Plan I am proud to be investing in this next chapter of my career and excited about where this transition is leading. #InstructionalDesign #CareerTransition #OnlineLearning #LearningExperienceDesign

100%. It worries me how so many instructional designers don't understand the fullness of the learning experience. Research has shown that boxes for meanings of words or simple explanations of key concepts are just ignored by many learners who look to the core body text to garner meaning. The latter in it's own right is hard enough for a second language learner without a page being too busy or cluttered with features for the learners who already face a daunting task.

Do you bold words in learning? Does it help? As instructional designers, we often use bold text to “help” learners notice key ideas. But what does research actually say about how bold affects learning? A study examining bold key terms in reading passages found that while students felt more confident about what they thought they learned when terms were bolded, their actual comprehension didn’t improve just because the text was bolded. In the researcher’s words: “bold font increased immediate confidence judgments (i.e., judgments of learning) without increasing comprehension.” This matters for course design. Bold text can draw attention and improve perceived clarity, but it doesn’t automatically help learners understand or remember content better. Effective emphasis should be paired with strong structure, clear examples, and intentional alignment with learning goals—not just visual styling. Think of bold as a guidepost, not a shortcut to comprehension.

As an instructional designer, do you know what Cognitive Load is? Do you know how that affects the way people learn? If you are going to help others learn, you need to know about this and how to combat it. The human brain is not capable of assimilating a lot of information all at one time. As learning designers, we need to know this and create learning that can be handled by our working and stored memory.

I’ve written a practical guide to choosing the right online design education program for instructional designers. Focus on curriculum depth, hands‑on assignments, recognized certification, instructor expertise, and tools training (Articulate, Camtasia, LMS). Review the syllabus for modular structure, portfolio or capstone work, and career services. Set clear goals, build a study schedule, and apply learning to real projects to grow your career in eLearning. Read the full post to compare course features and evaluate value for your goals. https://wix.to/kaFB1Dg

What does it actually take to become an effective instructional designer? Not just familiarity with models. Not just comfort with tools. Not just the ability to build slides. It requires judgment. The ability to diagnose performance problems. The confidence to push back when training isn’t the right solution. The skill to design learning that works within real constraints. That's exactly what we do in our new 8-Week Instructional Design Certificate Program...and enrollment for our 2026 sessions are offically open! This live, virtual, facilitated, and hands-on experience is designed to help professionals build those capabilities through structured practice. Over eight weeks, participants will: ✅ Move through the full instructional design process in sequence ✅ Work through a realistic organizational performance scenario ✅ Apply adult learning theory in context ✅ Explore practical AI integration across the ID lifecycle ✅ Develop a cohesive, portfolio-ready case study This program is ideal for: 👉 New instructional designers building foundational skills 👉 Career transitioners moving from theory to practice 👉 L&D teams looking to strengthen instructional capability And whether enrolling individually or as a team, participants can save $500 per enrollment when registering before March 20th. 🔗 Learn more and view 2026 session dates: https://bit.ly/4cugk7X #InstructionalDesign #LearningAndDevelopment #eLearning

In learning design, learner and community attentiveness are as critical as what we teach and how we teach it. 💡 Experienced designers attend to context alongside determining what to teach — who learners are, what they’re carrying, the constraints shaping engagement, and what’s at stake if something is misunderstood. When learning doesn’t land, it’s less frequently because learning objectives weren’t sound, outcomes weren’t aligned with assessment, or the sequencing wasn't quite right – these are the basics. 🗝️ More often, the design didn’t fully account for the realities learners were navigating. 🗝️ Strong learning systems balance organizational goals with learner context AND conversely, learner goals with organizational context. That balance is what makes learning usable — and sustainable. 🗝️ One of the clearest takeaways from my research simply confirmed what seasoned practitioners already practice instinctively: design decisions are intentional and context relevant. Choices about language, examples, engagement, visuals, pacing, messaging, methodology, structure, and feedback shape how people understand processes, systems, and opportunities. 🗝️ Responsible instructional design holds both human reality and institutional responsibility at the center.

Most learning problems aren’t actually “training” problems. They’re clarity problems. Alignment problems. Design problems. In instructional design, the real work often happens before a single slide is built: * Asking better questions * Understanding performance gaps (not just content gaps) * Designing experiences that respect time, context, and how adults actually learn I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how effective learning design is less about more content and more about intentional decisions—what to include, what to leave out, and how to guide learners toward real behavior change. Curious how others in L&D and instructional design are approaching this: What’s one design decision you’ve made recently that had an outsized impact on learner outcomes? #InstructionalDesign #LearningExperienceDesign #LearningAndDevelopment #AdultLearning #WorkplaceLearning #PerformanceImprovement #HumanCenteredDesign

Accessibility is no longer a side initiative in instructional design. It is a design imperative. As instructional designers, we are being called to move beyond retrofitting accommodations and toward building learning environments that are inclusive from the start. With April approaching, many higher education institutions are not simply updating content. They are reexamining workflows, auditing legacy materials, and redefining what quality course design truly means. This shift signals something bigger than compliance. It reflects a growing recognition that accessibility is foundational to user experience, learner persistence, and institutional integrity. Yet I believe we are at an inflection point. 1) What tools, processes, or frameworks are you using to intentionally embed accessibility into your design cycle rather than treating it as a final checkpoint? 2) How transferable are those strategies beyond higher education into corporate learning, workforce development, or community-based training? If accessibility is truly about equitable access to opportunity, then its application should not be limited by sector. The future of instructional design will be shaped by how proactively we design for variability, not uniformity. I’m interested in hearing how others are operationalizing accessibility in meaningful, scalable ways. What is working in your context? 🤔 #InstructionalDesign #LearningDesign #EdTech #HigherEducation #ProfessionalGrowth